BERLIN (Reuters) – NATO will extend again the term of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday, citing unidentified diplomatic sources, as the alliance seeks to maintain stability during the war in Ukraine.
Members will extend Stoltenberg’s term until April 2024 due to his “outstanding achievements” and to guarantee the military alliance’s stability during the ongoing war in Ukraine, the newspaper said.
There is an informal agreement among the 30 member states that Stoltenberg should remain in position beyond the end of his term on Sept. 30, the newspaper said, adding that a formal decision would be made in the coming weeks.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said had no intention to seek another extension of his mandate.
Stoltenberg, an economist by training and a former leader of Norway’s Labour Party, had his original NATO term extended last year.
He was prime minister of Norway from 2000-01 and 2005-13 before becoming NATO chief the following year. He has also been finance minister and energy minister.
Welt said alliance members want to give Stoltenberg the opportunity to chair the organisation’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington in April 2024. He would also be in a position to become president of the World Bank when David Malpass steps down around the same time, it said.
No decision has been made about who will succeed Stoltenberg, but Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace are among the leading candidates for the post, Welt said.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Sabine Siebold; Editing by Mike Harrison)
